Who Wants a Hot Pocket?

It's been a busy few days that left little time for cooking, but I finally get back into the kitchen on Sunday afternoon (in the heat...without air conditioning... that is how committed I am). 

I was fortunate enough to get broccoli in my share again this week so I did some good searching for a recipe to use it in.  I debated a stir fry and a chicken broccoli and ziti dish, but kept digging for something a little more out of the ordinary.  I narrowed it down to two recipes - Homemade Chicken and Broccoli Hot Pockets or Broccoli Cornbread. 

I chose the Hot Pockets for a two reasons:

1. I make a killer cornbread already so there wasn't much of a challenge involved
2. Making cornbread would mean making something to go along with it and I did not want to deal with that!

For anyone interested in the Broccoli Cornbread recipe - don't fear - I have leftover broccoli from the hot pockets and decided to make it later later this week so stay tuned!

So I went to the grocery store to pick up the few ingredients I needed (pizza dough, chicken and shredded cheese), came home and got started.  I was evidently so excited I didn't even bother to read the directions.  I slices and cubed the chicken and threw it in a pan with some olive oil on the stove.  Turns out the recipe calls for you to bake the chicken.  I thought for sure when I realized my error that I had ruined it for good...I hadn't.  I am assuming that perhaps baking the chicken makes it more moist (I have no idea if that's true or not), but cooking on the stove top was fast and didn't seen to make a difference in the end product.

Once the chicken was all cooked, I cleaned the sautee pan (we only have one...the handle broke off the other one we had and it has yet to be replaced) and used it to steam the broccoli.  I had never steamed broccoli (or any other vegetable) before so I actually had to look it up.  It called for boiling 1/4 inch of water in the pan, then adding a 1/2 tsp of salt and the broccoli and covering it until it was tender.  The steamed broccoli was so good with just the added flavor of the salt I actually ate some of the florets that were supposed to go into the hot pockets....oops.

Then I attempted the roll out the pizza dough...which was significantly more difficult than I had anticipated.  Every time I tried to roll it out, it's elasticity cause it to shrink back in.  I was spending so much time trying to roll it, and it was so hot in my apartment with the oven on, that it actually started to bubble on the counter!  I finally decided to ignore the directions (the dough was only supposed to be 1/4" thick) and just make due with what I had managed to accomplish.

I cut the large sheet of dough into four, as the recipe instructed and spread out the cream cheese on the pizza dough, followed by the alfredo sauce, chicken, steamed broccoli and shredded cheddar cheese.  Looking at it, I thought there was no way all the filling was going to fit into the dough pocket and once again was sure I had messed it up.

Once again, I was wrong.  The same elasticity that drove me mad while I was trying to roll the dough out, also made it really forgiving as I folded up the top and bottom ends of the pocket followed by the long edges. I realized at that moment that I probably could have (and should have) added more stuffing, but it was simply too late.

I put the pockets on the baking sheet and coated with the oil and onion powder (I didn't have parsley so I skipped it) and then let it rest for a half hour.  Let me tell you how much that half hour killed me.  I thought FOR SURE (again) that all of the insides were going to ooze out or thin the dough during the resting time and they'd be a hot mess instead of a hot pocket.  They were, of course, just fine.

After baking for 20 minutes they were browned and beautiful and I couldn't wait to try it!

THE RESULTS!

The Homemade Hot Pockets were pretty darn good.  I knew exactly what I would do to make them even better if I made them again based on some of my little mishaps, but overall I would recommend the recipe to other people.  It was relatively easy to execute (save the stretchy dough), highly economical, and tasty.

If I were to do it again I'd do the following:

• More filling!  Don't be afraid of the dough slice to filling ratio - boy can that dough go a long way!!!
• I would assemble them on the baking sheet...just to make transferring them from one spot to another easier.
• I would add some Parmesan cheese to the olive oil/garlic powder mixture...and get myself some dried parsley.  The crust could have used the additional flavor.
• Bake for just a smidge longer.  I was concerned about it burning and even though the dough was fully cooked I think I would have liked it to be slightly more crusty.

Thanks again for  checking in and being a part of this adventure!  I am always so pleased (and surprised) when I hear that people are reading.  You guys are keeping me motivated!!!

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